Hit Songs From 1966: Do You Remember Them All?

About These Hit Songs From 1966

The hit songs from 1966 came out of one of the busiest, most inventive years pop music has ever had. Folk was turning electric, Motown was at full speed, and studios in Los Angeles, New York, London and Muscle Shoals were trying sounds nobody had heard on the radio before.

This episode counts down ten records that defined that year. Here is the story behind each one, checked against the chart records.

The Countdown: 10 Unforgettable Hit Songs of 1966

#10: I'm a Believer — The Monkees (1966)

Neil Diamond wrote this cheerful tune, and producer Jeff Barry recorded it with the Monkees in New York in October 1966. Micky Dolenz sang lead, while studio musicians played the instruments, including that bouncy Vox Continental organ.

Released in November 1966, it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending December 31, 1966, and stayed there for seven weeks. Older estimates put its worldwide sales at around ten million copies.

Critics teased the Monkees as a made-for-TV band, and the group pushed hard for more say in their own music. By 1967 they had won it, playing their own instruments on the album Headquarters. Decades later, Smash Mouth's cover in Shrek (2001) introduced the song to a brand-new generation.

#9: Paint It Black — The Rolling Stones (1966)

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards first worked this song up as a fairly ordinary pop arrangement, and the band nearly gave up on it. Things changed when Brian Jones brought in the sitar, which he had been exploring, and Bill Wyman added a heavy, driving low end on the bass pedals of a Hammond organ.

The lyrics describe someone stunned by the sudden loss of a partner, and the music matches that mood. Released in May 1966, it went to number one in both the United States and Britain.

#8: California Dreamin' — The Mamas and the Papas (1966)

John and Michelle Phillips wrote this song during a cold New York winter in 1963, when Michelle was missing sunny California. The feeling of being stuck somewhere gray and longing for warmth is in every line.

The group first sang backing vocals on a version for Barry McGuire. Producer Lou Adler then had Denny Doherty record a new lead vocal over the same instrumental track, and a trace of McGuire's original voice can still be heard at the very start. Bud Shank played the alto flute solo, which he reportedly improvised.

The single entered the Hot 100 in January 1966 and peaked at number four that March.

#7: The Sound of Silence — Simon and Garfunkel (1966)

Paul Simon wrote this song in his bathroom with the lights off and the faucet running, because he liked the quiet and the echo off the tiles. The duo's acoustic album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. sold poorly, and Simon moved to England.

Then producer Tom Wilson added electric guitar, bass and drums to the original recording. Simon and Garfunkel were not told about the new version until after it came out. Simon reportedly spotted it climbing the charts while performing in Denmark.

The folk-rock remix reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending January 1, 1966, and brought the duo back together.

#6: These Boots Are Made for Walkin' — Nancy Sinatra (1966)

Songwriter Lee Hazlewood planned to record this one himself. Nancy Sinatra talked him out of it, arguing that coming from a man the words would sound harsh, but from a young woman they became playful and sassy.

That famous sliding bass line came from session player Chuck Berghofer on double bass. The record topped the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1966 and also hit number one in Britain, giving Nancy a hit that was entirely her own.

Nancy traveled to Vietnam to perform for American troops in 1966 and 1967, and many soldiers adopted the song as an anthem of their own.

#5: Good Vibrations — The Beach Boys (1966)

Brian Wilson built this song on something his mother once told him: that dogs could sense the "vibrations" coming from people. He turned that idea into one of the most ambitious singles ever made.

The production took about 20 recording sessions across four Hollywood studios over roughly seven months, with more than 30 musicians taking part. The eerie, swooping sound is an Electro-Theremin, played by its inventor, Paul Tanner. Cost estimates vary widely; Wilson himself later put the figure closer to $25,000, a huge sum for a single in that era.

Released in October 1966, it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 that December and also topped the British charts.

#4: Paperback Writer — The Beatles (1966)

Paul McCartney recalled an aunt asking why he always wrote about love. His answer was a song written as a letter from a struggling author to a publisher, with no romance in it at all.

Engineer Geoff Emerick gave the bass its big, booming sound by using a loudspeaker as a microphone. Instead of appearing live on American TV, the Beatles shot promotional films in May 1966, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. George Harrison later called clips like these a forerunner of music videos.

The single reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and in Britain in the summer of 1966.

#3: When a Man Loves a Woman — Percy Sledge (1966)

This soul ballad grew out of Percy Sledge's own heartache. By his account, after a breakup he asked his band for a slow blues at a show and made up words as he sang. The writing credit went to his bandmates Calvin Lewis and Andrew Wright, and Sledge later said he let them have it.

Atlantic's Jerry Wexler thought the horns sounded out of tune and asked for a new take. According to bassist David Hood, the tapes got mixed up and the original was released anyway.

It reached number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the R&B chart in 1966, the first number-one hit recorded in the Muscle Shoals area.

#2: Reach Out I'll Be There — Four Tops (1966)

Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote this Motown classic and deliberately pitched it high for lead singer Levi Stubbs. They wanted a cry and a hunger in his voice, and singing near the top of his range gave them exactly that.

Stubbs complained about the high notes, but his bandmate Duke Fakir later said the group knew he loved the result. Released in August 1966, the record went to number one on the Hot 100 and the R&B chart, then spent three weeks at the top in Britain.

#1: Summer in the City — The Lovin' Spoonful (1966)

This gritty anthem started with John Sebastian's younger brother, Mark, who wrote an early version at just 14. John reworked the song and bassist Steve Boone added the bridge, so all three share the writing credit.

The band wanted listeners to feel the heat of the pavement. They added car horns and a pneumatic drill from a tape of city sounds. Engineer Roy Halee even put a microphone inside a garbage can, and guitarist Zal Yanovsky struck it with a drumstick to create that explosive beat.

Released on July 4, 1966, it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 13 and held the top spot for three weeks. It was the group's only American number one. Sadly, a marijuana arrest earlier that year soured their reputation with parts of the counterculture, and Yanovsky left the group in 1967.

Why 1966 Was Such a Big Year for Music

Look at this list and you can hear a whole industry changing. The studio itself became an instrument: a garbage can became a drum, a loudspeaker became a microphone, and a single song could take months to finish.

Songwriters also took more risks. Grief, loneliness and homesickness all made it onto Top 40 radio, right next to bubblegum pop.

That mix of experiment and heart is why the hit songs from 1966 still sound fresh nearly sixty years later.

Which of these ten songs takes you right back, and where were you the first time you heard it?

Sources and Further Reading

• List of Billboard Hot 100 number ones of 1966 (Wikipedia)
• Good Vibrations (Wikipedia)
• The Sound of Silence (Wikipedia)
• California Dreamin' (Wikipedia)
• Summer in the City (Wikipedia)